Virtual reality Photos

This week was a great week for stargazing. In case you missed it, the Perseid meteor shower peaked on Wednesday.
If you did miss it, don't feel bad. I love that sort of thing and I would have missed it if it weren't for running
into a good friend at the beach while I was taking an evening walk with my wife. Fortunately we were all set up for
taking photos of the stars anyway. We got a few nice meteor shots, (this NOT being one of them, that's just a passing
jet in the sky) and saw even more really beautiful meteors. But I was, purely coincidentally looking to experiment with
a wide enough view to capture more of the milky way. Although the meteors were amazing, this is more the image I was
looking for and it just goes to show, you don't need to wait for the next meteor shower (October 8th, by the way) to
find something absolutely amazing as close as the night sky.

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Did you ever wonder if it was possible to have an aquarium so big you could keep a pet whale? It would seem I'm not
the only one who ponders these things. This is the Ty Warner Sea Center on Stearns Wharf. They have created a wonderful
place to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants, as well as a home with an amazing view for a beautiful whale.

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This is another shot from my recent work at the offices of Buynak and Fauver. This one
is an outtake. It was taken later in the evening and although I really love the view,
it didn't fit well in the final tour. But you can see it here. The rest of the tour,
including an Easter Egg, which no one has found without being told where to look, can be seen here...
their site: http://www.buynakfauver.com/virtual-tour/.

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An evening view overlooking Santa Barbara from the El Paseo Building overlooking De La Guerra Plaza.
This is the view from the patio of the Law Offices of Buynak and Fauver.
They have an amazing office, and it's not just because of the view.
Their workplace is one of the greenest offices in Santa Barbara.
Because of their efforts their employees and clients
have an incredibly safe work environment and they have
greatly reduced their building's impact on the environment.
If you would like to take the full tour be sure to stop by
their site: http://www.buynakfauver.com/virtual-tour/.

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The courtyard behind the El Paseo restaurant in Santa Barbara is one of thoes little jewels just off
the beaten path in Santa Barbara that most people walk within 50 feet of without ever knowing it's there.
This is actually an older shot that was originally published as a still image
because the fountain itself was so beautiful. But sometimes it's fun to go back and play with the images
a little and make something new.

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This is a shot from Twin Cities Hospital in Templeton, California.
This tour was completed early in the year, but I just realized I never
had time to put it on my own site. This was a really fun trip,
and the tour was especially interesting because we produced an HD television spot as
well as the online tour. The HD video looks very smooth in a way that flash
can't quite match yet. I'll share a bit of that in the near future.

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The courtyard behind the El Paseo restaurant in Santa Barbara is one of thoes little jewels just off
the beaten path in Santa Barbara that most people walk within 50 feet of without ever knowing it's there.
This is actually an older shot that was originally published as a still image
because the fountain itself was so beautiful. But sometimes it's fun to go back and play with the images
a little and make something new.

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Sunset above the Santa Barbara Breakwater.
I like the way this photo shows the shelter of
the breakwater as your view moves across the beautiful waves on the outside
to the small ripples in the harbor. Either way the water is beautiful!

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La Pacifica Ballroom at the Coral Casino has one of the best views around. Overlooking butterfly beach,
with a huge terrace under the stars. This shot was taken specifically to catch the reflection of the sunset
in the glass doors.

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Queen of the Missions under the stars. The evening I took this last week, I was actually trying to get anohter
shot down at the beach. On the way home I thought I would stop at the mission to see what things
looked like there. It was a little dark, but I decided to see what I could get anyway.
I'm glad I did. The stars in this shot were rather inspiring for some new ideas I'll be working on.

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Santa Barbara is the city of red tile rooves. But there are a few creative variations. This beautiful BLUE tiled roof building is the
Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in the hills above Santa Barbara.

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At the end of a wonderful evening of photography, I found myself driving by Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.
The look of the glowing lights with the remaing glow of the sunset were enough to make me circle
the block to think about what kind of a view I could get. I was glad I stopped. This is from about
20 feet above the edge of the duckpond, looking down on the pond and the gazebo.

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There are few more perfect places to take a 360° Panoramic Photo than the Santa Barbara
County Courthouse Mural room. The walls of the room depict major events in the history of California. The entire room is a spectacular
work of art. Don't forget to look up at the amazing detail on the ceiling.

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Every Memorial Day weekend we have a festival at the Santa Barbara Mission. An Italian street painting
festival, the entire mission driveway is turned into a temporary art gallery. Hundredes of artists
transform the pavement into amazing works of art with nothing more than chalk. Over the next couple of days I'll try to bring some
of my favorite views of the festival to you.

Click on the flashing circles in the image to see other views
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The Santa Barbara Mission is a beautiful place. But you usually see it from the outside.
This is a display of a kitchen as it was for the early inhabitants of the Mission.

From the plaque on the wall:

"This kitchen display is typical of the indoor cooking facilities of the early 1800s. Cooking was done both outdoors and indoors. Indoor cooking was usually done by women over hot, glowing charcoal.

FOOD SOURCES:

Large gardens, orchards and adjacent ranchos supplied the Indians and Mission community with vegetables, fruit livestock and grains such as wheat, barley, oats and corn.
THE ORIGINAL ADOBE CAN BE SEEN ON THE LEFT SIDE WALL."

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I really love Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, the variety of wildlife and plants right in the middle
of the city is unparalleled. This beautiful tree is at the corner of Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens,
it's one of my favorite trees in Santa Barbara. I have no idea how old it is, but you can see on the
map of the garden which trees existed before the garden and this is one of them. No surprise, normally
when you see Tea Trees they are trimmed to look more like bushes. This guy must have seen some amazing
things in his lifetime.

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A wonderful spot any time of day, the Courthouse Sunken Gardens
take on a magical quality at night. The lighting makes for
wonderful photo opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.
I like to experiment with architectural photography later in the
evening than might seem to work. As long as there is still blue in
the sky to complement the buildings it's a good time for photos.

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Another hand-held virtual reality shot from The Getty Center in Los Angeles.
From a distance the main garden looks like a very cool topiary hedge maze,
and it is, but to find the Minotaur in the center of this labyrinth you need a gondola. Because it
is in the middle of an amazing fountain.

This, of course starts the discussion of how do you think they
trim the maze. Because it's really nicely groomed. It's not like they could drain the fountain
every time it needs a trim. Gondoliers with hedge trimmers? Hope they're not electric trimmers.
Oh well I guess we'll have to chalk that up to the mysteries of the ages.

This is from a beautiful evening at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
It was a great day with lots of beautiful art, but I have to admit I liked
the architecture even more. And I don't think I'm the only one. There
are at least six other people in this photo taking a picture at this moment.

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I love the Butterfly beach area in Montecito.
When the tide is low you can walk all the way to Summerland in one direction,
and back to East beach in Santa Barbara in the other direction.
On the other hand when the tide is really high, or after a strong storm when
the sand is washed away you can't get much of a beach walk.
Thats when we like to walk along this walkway by the beach and watch the waves
and sunset.

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